Superficial
by Kagetora no Tsume
Summary: Speculation of Lady Gothel's Internal thoughts: Perhaps she shouldn't have gotten so attached to the child...


In honor of the new Disney movie 'Tangled'.

Now, I may be looking way, way, WAY to much into this, but I personally think that Lady Gothel wasn't as one-dimentional as she seemed.

Just a thought.

Well, with the usual disclaimers, we're off!

Enjoy! ^^

* * *

It was her flower. A means to keep her young.

Nothing more.

That's what Lady Gothel believed, as she cradled the crying baby against her chest.

She had paused for the moment, finally allowing herself to rest after running for what had seemed like hours from the Kingdoms' guards.

Once she had stolen the princess, all hell had broken loose. The entire city had been outside their doors, trying to figure out what was going on, as she tried to get through the streets before the guards could organize themselves. She had to shove her way through in most areas, but the people were too confused to stop her.

The only advantage here was that the guards couldn't get through either.

Once she had cleared the town, she ran; no particular direction, only away.

It had been almost ten minutes since she had last heard the faint voices of the guards shouting to one another and she had decided to chance a rest.

Besides, she had another little problem to deal with...

The child started into another round of crying, and Lady Gothel began to rock the girl back and forth in her arms, singing the flower's song in an attempt to both quiet the child and return some of her own energy.

_Flower, gleam and glow,_

_let your power shine,_

_make the clock reverse,_

_bring back what once was mine..._

The child's hair began to glow as she sang, and the child herself grew quiet, as if entranced by the song. Lady Gothel could feel the life and youth surging through her body.

_Heal what has been hurt,_

_change the fates' design,_

_save what has been lost,_

_bring back what once was mine,_

_what once was mine..._

The infant's crying had ceased altogether, and she was now looking up at her sleepily.

A smile tugged at the woman's lips.

The child was adorable.

She didn't get a chance to dwell on this, however, because a faint cry in the distance sent her running again, as the guards picked up her trail.

* * *

Over the course of 16 years, Gothel found herself calling the girl 'flower' less and less, and thinking of her as her daughter more and more. Of course, on the occasions when she realized what she was doing, she quickly scolded herself for getting attached to the girl.

She was nothing more than a flower, something that she needed to stay young.

She SHOULD have been nothing more than that...

* * *

Lady Gothel had been returning from her trip, the three-day journey somewhat alleviated by the fact that she was nearly home, and she would get to see the joy on her dear Rapunzel's face when she got the special paints for her birthday.

As she neared the ivy-covered cave entrance to the valley, however, something large sprung from the bushes.

She immediately leaped back in surprise, prepared for a fight should it come to that, but it was only a white stallion.

"Oh." she said aloud, to herself more than the beast, "A palace horse."

This didn't seem to relieve the nagging feeling of danger that she had, however, and it was only another second until she realized why.

"Where's your rider?" she asked it suspiciously.

He must have fallen off or something, and was now wandering the area.

And then she'd felt fear.

Genuine fear.

"Rapunzel!"

Shoving the cave's trailing ivy tendrils out of the way, she ran as fast as she could to the base of the tower, basket forgotten.

Rapunzel.

She had to find Rapunzel.

Her boots caused her to stumble over the uneven ground, but she ran anyway.

Skidding to a stop at the base of the tower, her cloak whipping around her, she looked up at the window - usually bright and sunny, but now grey and cold from the cloud cover.

"Rapunzel~! Let down your ha~ir!" she called in a sing-song voice, hoping to hide her worry. She would be fine. The guard wouldn't have been able to get into the tower. Her daughter was fine.

But as the seconds dragged by, and there was no response from above, what little hope she had that Rapunzel was okay was quickly being drowned out by panic.

"Rapunzel? Mother's waiting~..."

Still no reply.

She allowed only another second, then ran around the tower, desperation tugging at her.

Her feet slipped on the mossy rocks, and she found herself half-crawling as she tried to get around to the back.

The location of the door was familiar, even though she had not used it for years.

Tearing away the trailing vines, she was greeted by the blocked doorway that she used to first enter the tower. She immediately began to claw the stones from their place, her mind telling her only to hurry and find Rapunzel.

The small cuts and scrapes that now covered her hands, arms, and legs weren't even felt, as her only thought became to get to the top of that tower _no matter what_.

The space was, at last, big enough for her to squeeze into, and she forced her body through the small gap, not noticing as the rock tore at her clothes and skin.

Staggering blindly up the pitch-black spiral staircase, she found herself falling more often than climbing, but didn't dare slow down enough to worry about making her moves careful.

At last, the stairs ended, and with all her might, Lady Gothel slammed her shoulder up into the tile that covered the entry to the tower.

The stone was jammed firmly in place, but she got it to come lose after a few tries, and shoved it out of the way, scrambling into the tower.

"Rapunzel!" she called, whirling around in a complete circle - scanning the room as fast as her eyes could process.

Not a trace.

Running up to the girl's room, she threw open the door and felt a slight bit of hope as she saw a lump under the covers of the bed. There was a nagging doubt, though, as she approached. Something was wrong. Rapunzel would have woken...

Sure enough, the covers only hid some pillows.

Running back downstairs, she looked around once more.

Deserted.

She was gone.

Lady Gothel tried to process this.

Her daughter, her precious Rapunzel, was gone.

A second later she was hit by what that truly meant, and felt her body become weak.

Rapunzel was gone.

She was really gone.

And she may never see her again.

Lady Gothel looked out the window as her heart throbbed.

Where could she be? What could have happened? Was Rapunzel okay? Where was she now? Would she ever get to see her again? And WHAT is that blasted light...?

She turned to the source of the blinding glint, noticing that something had been hidden beneath the stairs.

Desperate for even the slightest clue as to where her daughter had gone, she ran over, lifting the top of the step to reveal a brown leather satchel.

Opening it cautiously, she reached inside and took out the source of the reflection, examining it closely. It almost looked like...

With a sharp gasp of realization, she dropped the object, recoiling as if she'd just been stung.

It was a crown.

The _lost Princess'_ crown.

Desperation building again, she grabbed the sack.

There HAD to be something else...

Paper.

She pulled out the sheet and unrolled it, revealing a wanted poster for a man named Flynn Rider. Lady Gothel stared at the poster for a long moment, burning the image and name into her memory. This was him.

This was the man who had dared to break into this tower.

THIS was the man who had kidnapped Rapunzel.

He would pay.

She would make him pay _dearly_.

* * *

Fin.

For the record - I LOVE THIS MOVIE.

(I don't care of you think there was too much singing/romance, Josephus Prime, it's a freaking Disney movie, what did you expect!)

Reviews are welcome and appreciated.

Anyway, it's bed time. (3:00 exactly. ^^)

Goodnight, all!


End file.
